Cheshire Cat
by Caryce Jade
Summary: Someone from Johnny's past inexplicably walks back into his life just when he needs her the most.
1. Chapter 1

Don't own 'em, just like to play in other people's universes.

AN: This story is going to be a bit long, and it's going to be a few chapters in before we get to the "present time", and I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but I'm going to take it wherever my mind decides it wants to go.

The boy walked slowly down the narrow dirt road. Most of the other children had ran off the school bus, laughing gleefully. He hadn't. Three weeks until his aunt could get him. The people from the protective services or whatever it was called had told Mrs. MacAllister last night that she was having to find a bigger house than the one-bedroom she currently had, plus get a bunch of other stuff squared away. He kind of shrugged. It couldn't be any worse than his life up to this point. At nine, he had already seen and experienced things that no child should ever have had to.

Lost in his thoughts as he trudged down the road, he didn't hear the two older boys taunting him until he felt a rock hit his side. "I SAID you don't belong here!" One of the boys rounded in front of him and shoved him roughly down onto the ground. The other started kicking at him. Both of them were shouting taunts and insults as the boy beneath their fists and feet struggled not to cry out. Crying out usually only got him hit harder. He'd learned that before he could walk.

"GEORGE FOSTER!!!! GARY ALLEN!!!! WHAT IN BLAZES DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!!!!!" It wasn't an adult's voice, but another child, a young girl, judging by the pitch. The boy could hear his tormenters cry out as something hit them both.

"Nothing, Gerry. Nothing at all." The boy on the ground could have sworn he heard his voice tremble slightly.

"Doesn't look like nothing to me. Looks like you were beating the crap out of him. Which you're not going to finish." The boy on the ground looked up though teary eyes as he saw the girl brandish a slingshot.

"Ummm...just a misunderstanding. Wrong kid. Come on Gar, let's get over to your house and get ready for the game." George knew how accurate Gerry was with that slingshot, and knew that in a fistfight, she didn't pull her punches either. He'd seen her knock another boy who had decided it would be a good idea to lock little Peter Marcus in the trunk of his daddy's car a flip. By the time the boy had decided to let Peter out, he sported two black eyes, a busted lip, a bloody nose, and a few other bruises as well.

"Well, don't let it happen again." She glared at the two boy's retreating forms, then turned her attention to the boy lying on the ground. She knelt down beside him. "Hey. You alright?" She offered him a hand at his nod and helped him up. "Gerry Carter. You're Johnny, right? I saw Tweedledum and Tweedledee bring you in last night." At his puzzled look, she laughed. "Alice In Wonderland. You'll have to read it sometime. Come on. Let's get you to the house and cleaned up before Mrs. MacAllister has a fit.

Johnny paled, visible even under all of the dust. "Will she be mad at me?" He was already preparing for the inevitable blows. His stomach was already churning with fear and anxiety and he thought he was going to be sick. Not just from the anxiety, but from where one of the boys had kicked him in the stomach.

"At you, no. At George and Gary, yes. She'll probably be calling down curses on them and their seed, even down to the fourth generation. She always does that when somebody picks on one of 'her' kids. " She frowned at how pale her companion was getting. And how green around the gills. He was going to be sick soon. "You all right?"

He gulped audibly, then gave a shaky smile."Yeah." He was lying. He just didn't want to throw up in front of this girl. As tough-as-nails as she was, she'd probably laugh at him.

"Bull." She took his arm and led him behind a shed. He just barely made it. He threw up everything in his stomach, plus retched and dry-heaved for several minutes for good measure. The whole time, Gerry had one hand on his arm, supporting him, and another rubbing his back, offering comfort. When he finally stopped, she wordlessly handed him one of the napkins she kept in her pocket at all times. Her eyes stung at the memory of her mother, who had had the same habit. Even after almost two years it still hurt to think of her parents. She was luckier than most that came to the MacAllisters and was keenly aware of it. She had had good parents who loved her and would have done anything for her. She just had the misfortune of seeing them both die before her eyes and having no other living relatives that could, or would take her. So she was fiercely protective of the other foster children that Bill and Kate MacAllister looked after.

"Thanks," he said shakily, jerking Gerry back to reality.

"Don't mention it." She gave a half smile, then changed the subject. "How old are you?"

"Nine."

"Me too. Let's get to the house. Mrs. MacAllister will be worried about you. I think you did a good job of redecorating the back of her shed. As it is, I think you'll be having broth and crackers tonight for supper."

Sure enough, Mrs. MacAllister had seen everything. Her concern over Johnny was disconcerting to him, since he had only been used to shouting and blows. Sure enough she called down the aforementioned curses after she had settled him into his room. He wasn't used to having this much space. Though it was a small room, it was still bigger than anything he had had before. The MacAllisters had no children of their own but had tried to ensure when they had built their house that all of the children they took in would either have their own room or only have to share it with one other child.

A little while later, Gerry brought up a tray of the broth and crackers. But instead of one bowl, there were two. "Umm. I don't think I'll be able to finish all that."

"Silly. The other bowl's for me. Didn't think I was going to let you eat by yourself, did you?"

He hadn't really thought anything. He still couldn't get it completely into his head that he wasn't going to be punished for the fight and for getting sick. So he smiled wanly as Gerry settled in beside him, chattering about anything other than parents, family, or the fight.

Downstairs, Kate MacAllister smiled as she heard Gerry elicit another laugh out out of Johnny with some outrageous tale or antic. Poor boy deserved some laughter after what Mark and Jill had told her today about the life he had had up to this point. She shook her head sadly. Even after twenty years of this, she still could not understand how people treated their children so badly. She and Bill would have given anything to be able to have children of their own, but that had not been meant to be. This one would only be her about three weeks. Mark and Jill had found an aunt that had left the family some years ago that was willing to take him, but she had to get her life better situated to where she could take on a young child first. So here he was, and Kate and Bill MacAllister were determined that he was going to leave here a somewhat happier child than he was when he came.


	2. Chapter 2

Gerry sat bolt upright in bed at the sound of screaming coming from the room next to her. She leapt out of bed and strode out into the hall. She caught Kate MacAllister's eye as she came up the hall. Kate nodded approvingly as Gerry went into the bedroom. Gerry was a good and compassionate child, despite being a tomboy.

Meanwhile, Gerry was shaking Johnny awake. "Wake up! It's just a dream. It's not real." He finally woke up, his eyes latching onto Gerry's face, eerily pale in the moonight. "Bad though, huh?" She gave a sympathetic smile. "What was it? Sometimes it helps to talk about it."

He shook his head, willing the tears to not start forming in his eyes, a willing that his eyes disobeyed. "Scoot over," Gerry said, laying down beside him so that his head was against her shoulder. She put an arm around him. "You don't have to if you don't want to, though. Whatever it was was scary enough to bother you."

"What...were your parents...like?" The question was asked quietly asked. There were still tears in his voice, though it was drowsy.

"They were nice. My mom was a teacher and my dad was a doctor." She bit her lip as memories of picnics, trips to the park, ice cream cones, and bedtime stories came back unbidden. "They were nice to me, did things with me, and always had time for me, even when they were busy." She knew it was the polar opposite of the childhood of most of the kids that came through.

"What...happened?"

"They died." Some tears fell against the boy's hair as she said this. "I saw them die. There was a fire, and Daddy threw me down out of the window. It broke my arm, but...he went back for Mommy. They didn't make it."

"I'm sorry." A few of the tears in his eyes slid down his cheeks. The arm that was encircling him tightened. He could have sworn that he felt her lips brush the top of his head before he fell asleep.

The three weeks were up, and it was now time for Johnny to leave with his aunt. As Mr. and Mrs. MacAllister and the woman were talking, Gerry had taken Johnny into her room to give him something before he left.

"I've got something to give you. Close your eyes and hold out your hands." When he complied, she laid a rectangular object into them. "Okay." He opened them and saw that it was a copy of _Alice In Wonderland_. His eyes lit up and he didn't know what to say except...

"Thanks."

She gave him a fierce hug and then it was time for him to leave.

It was a while before Johnny even opened the book. When he did, he found a note scrawled inside the cover. It read:

_Johnny,_

_Whenever you read this think of me. We will meet again, I know it. _

_Gerry._


	3. Chapter 3

_Eighteen years later..._

"There. That's the last of it." Mrs Meyers locked the door of the apartment. The new tenants would be here in a couple of days. Apparantly, they had been eager to start their new jobs. The young woman she had met and had finalized the details of renting the apartment with was nice enough. The name on the lease was G. Dale Rogers, but the woman was called Gerry. She hoped her husband was just as nice.

She looked up as her favorite tenant came ambling down the hallway towards her. "Hi, Johnny." She smiled up at the lanky young man.

"Hello, Mrs. Meyers," he said, giving her a quick hug. "Someone's finally moving into the apartment, I see."

"Yes. She's not single, though." She laughed at the slightly dejected look on his face. "It's rented to a G. Dale Rogers."

"Oh." His mood sank even lower. His last date hadn't went so well, so he had been hoping that there would be somebody to take his mind off of that. Who would have figured that the whole time he was out with the girl, all she would talk about would be her ex. Nothing about her, or him, but 'Jim this' and 'Jim that'. It made him wish that tomorrow would just hurry up and get here so he could go back to work and swear off women...for a few hours at least.

"So how did your camping trip go," Mrs. Meyers asked, changing the subject.

He gave a broad grin. "Good. Really helped things."

"That's good, dear." Privately, she thought the boy worked too much, but also knew it wouldn't do any good to say anything. Besides, he had a good, level-headed partner who looked out for him. She'd met Roy a few times and genuinely liked the man. "Can I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure."

"I need some help fixing a loose railing up on the third floor. Would you care to take care of it for me?"

"Sure." He went and got the tools and followed her up the stairs.

Gerry Rogers kicked off her shoes as soon as she got into the motel room and flopped down across the bed. She started as a nurse at Rampart in the morning, so she really needed to hit the sack. She cracked a half smile at the events of the past couple of weeks. She had resigned her position as charge nurse at the small hospital in Iowa that she had worked in since she'd graduated college five years ago, moved out here to LA, gotten a job and an apartment, and in general tried to start a new life. Since she had lost the last of her second set of parents eight months ago, she had felt out of place in Iowa, so she had come to the decision to move. She had thought about maybe moving back to Montana, but there really was nothing for her there. Sure, she had kept in touch with the MacAllisters, but when Bill had died three years ago, Kate had moved to California and they had lost touch. So she had thought of maybe moving to California and looking her up. She had decided to move to LA on an impulse. Despite being in a profession that required level-headedness and good judgement, she could still be very passionate and very impulsive.

She shook her head as she recalled her visit to Rampart today to meet the people she would be working with. The first adjustment was that she had to do a bit of well-timed arguing to be permitted to wear white slacks and a white uniform-style shirt rather than a dress. She just found dresses to get in her way, and had always felt so, even as a child. The only time she ever wore a dress was if she had to, and even then, it was often under protest. The other issue, and not an unusual one for her, was establishing that she preferred to be called Gerry, not Geraldine. _Nobody_ called her Geraldine, unless it was an extremely grave or an extremely formal situation. She'd rather be called Dale, her middle name, before being called Geraldine. She did believe that she would like working there, though. The staff she would be working most closely with seemed friendly enough, and she sure was glad that the head nurse was a no-nonsense type. She had worked under her fair share of head nursed who were wishy-washy or that liked to pit members of the staff against each other, and had hated every minute of the confrontations, the wrangling to get things done, and the general bullshit of it.

She started whistling to herself as she laid her clothing out for the next day and got her stuff ready to take a shower. Yes, tomorrow would be a fresh start for her. There was nothing in Iowa for her now. No family, no really close friends. So she was starting over, and loving the challenge of it.


End file.
